Ask a communist to explain the free market and they will likely be wrong on some pretty substantial details. James Coyne (Clinical Psychologist and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania) is no communist, but he does have a strong aversion to positive psychology. His distaste for it is the result of his own… Continue reading Psychologist and Professor Echoes Common Misconceptions About Positive Psychology

About a week ago I read a story about a recent study on a link between certain types of well-being the expression of certain genes. It sparked my imagination— that my thoughts could alter the expression of my genes. I thought about the study all week. It was so tantalizing I had to write a… Continue reading Mind Over Genetics, and Inaccuracy in Science Journalism

Jeremy Dean over at PsyBlog and Chris Berdik at The Boston Globe discuss an interesting study about stress by Alia Crum . Crum wanted to see if how we consider stress changes how we experience it. So one group of people were shown a video explaining the downsides of stress. The other group was shown… Continue reading Stress and Belief About Stress

Po Bronson and Ashley Merriman, in their book NurtureShock, note that new studies indicate that certain kinds of praise of children can have an unintended consequence of making children risk averse . When a child is praised for their intelligence, there is a tendency for that child to steer away from difficult challenges. The avoidance… Continue reading When Praising Children Backfires